Berkeley scientists devise satellite-based early warning system for wildfires

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As human civilization continues to creep into what was once remote wilderness, the impact of wildfires is becoming more severe. The problem is only expected to worsen as global climate change results in longer, drier summers. A group of scientist from UC Berkeley think they’ve found a space-based way to mitigate the loss of property and life that can result from an out of control wildfire. The proposed solution is a satellite called the FUEGO (Fire Urgency Estimator in Geosynchronous Orbit). FUEGO would be able to watch over the tinder-dry western US for the beginnings of potentially catastrophic fires.

FUEGO would not be the only satellite capable of detecting and tracking the course of a wildfire — some environmental monitoring satellites have similar capabilities, but FUEGO would be the first put into orbit for this expressed purpose. Additionally, it is intended specifically to pick up on the minuscule spark of a burgeoning wildfire from orbit. The problem with managing wildfires is that by the time they are detected, they are likely too large to easily extinguish. Getting to these sites early could help authorities to snuff them out where appropriate or supervise a controlled burn if needed.

Detecting these early-stage fires has been on the table for some time, but past efforts were stymied by the poor resolution of imaging equipment. It was often difficult to tell the difference between a hotspot caused by sunlight reflecting off a car windshield and a flame leaping from tree to tree in the parched terrain. The Berkeley researchers believe they have solved that problem with a new generation of sensors tied into faster processing hardware. New analysis software has also been developed to determine which hotspots are a threat, and which are false alarms.

The system designed by Berkeley researchers is capable of running several billion calculations each second on a 1500×1500 kilometer image, which FUEGO could capture every few seconds. At that rate, the satellite could check the entire western US in a matter of minutes. The FUEGO satellite would remain in geostationary orbit over the western US, but additional copies could be deployed to monitor other areas with high fire danger like Australia.

The satellite itself doesn’t exist yet, but the designs have been submitted as part of a paper published earlier this month. The analysis engine has been thoroughly vetted using composite images of wildfires captured by other satellites. Using this material — which should approximate what FUEGO is capable of capturing — the team found that the rapid sensing tech they developed could easily pick out fires as small as 10 feet across without being clogged with false positives. The team is exploring the feasibility of putting FUEGO into production.